StrongerBible

hamartanō

ἁμαρτάνω

GreekG0264sin, do wrong

Appears 43 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 18:15Mat 18:21Mat 27:4Luk 15:18Luk 15:21Luk 17:3Luk 17:4Jhn 5:14Jhn 8:11Jhn 9:2Jhn 9:3Act 25:8Rom 2:12 (2×)Rom 3:23Rom 5:12Rom 5:14Rom 5:16Rom 6:151Co 6:181Co 7:28 (2×)1Co 7:361Co 8:12 (2×)1Co 15:34Eph 4:261Ti 5:20Tit 3:11Heb 3:17Heb 10:261Pe 2:202Pe 2:41Jn 1:101Jn 2:1 (2×)1Jn 3:6 (2×)1Jn 3:81Jn 3:91Jn 5:16 (2×)1Jn 5:18
Compound of
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyha-mar-TAH-noverb

What hamartanō means

to sin: to do what is morally wrong, failing the standard God or another person has a right to expect

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the New Testament's basic verb for going wrong morally. The picture behind the word is missing a target, like an arrow falling short of the mark, but by the first century that image had faded and the word simply meant doing wrong. To sin is to fail a standard you were meant to meet.

The standard can be named in different ways, and the senses below sort the occurrences by who or what is wronged. Most often the offense is against God or against the moral order he set, whether or not he is mentioned by name. Sometimes the offense is plainly against another person, marked in the Greek by a little phrase meaning "against you" or "against the brothers." A few times the word is closer to "to be at fault" or "to do something blameworthy," as when Paul argues that getting married is no fault at all.

These are shades of one idea, not different words. The same verb covers all of them because in this way of thinking a wrong done to a person is finally also a wrong against God, and a single English word, sin or do wrong, carries the whole range. The writers do not treat sinning as an occasional slip so much as a power people are caught in and need rescuing from.

Nuances

1ato sin against God, or to do moral wrong in the absolute sense
Rom 2:12 (2×)Rom 3:23Rom 5:12Rom 5:14Rom 5:16Rom 6:151Co 6:181Co 15:34Eph 4:261Ti 5:20Tit 3:11Heb 3:17
1bto wrong someone, to sin against another person
Mat 18:15Mat 18:21Luk 17:3Luk 17:41Co 8:12 (2×)
1cto be at fault, to do something blameworthy
Act 25:81Co 7:28 (2×)1Co 7:36

What scholars say about hamartanō

Standard lexica treat the verb as essentially monosemous in the New Testament, glossing it "to commit a wrong, to sin" with the nuance set by its object (against a deity, against a person, or absolutely). BDAG notes the faded force of the older "miss the mark" etymology and lists the construction with eis plus a person for the interpersonal sense. EDNT and TDNT trace the trajectory from Classical "fail, err" to the developed Septuagint and New Testament moral and religious sense, where it stands as the most general verb in the hamartia word group and regularly renders Hebrew chata. The distinction between sinning against God and against a neighbor is treated as a difference of object rather than of meaning, and Pauline usage (Rom 3:23; 5:12) makes it the universal human condition.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἁμαρτάνωlexicon
  • G. Stählin and W. Grundmann, "ἁμαρτάνω κτλ.," TDNT 1:267-316dictionary
  • H.-G. Link and C. Brown, "Sin," NIDNTT 3:573-587dictionary
  • EDNT 1:65-69, s.v. ἁμαρτάνω, ἁμαρτίαdictionary

All attested forms of ἁμαρτάνω

present active indicative 3s

ἁμαρτάνει

1Co 6:18, 1Co 7:36, Tit 3:11, 1Jn 3:6, 1Jn 3:8, 1Jn 5:18

second-aorist active indicative 1s

ἥμαρτον

Mat 27:4, Luk 15:18, Luk 15:21, Act 25:8

second-aorist active indicative 3p

ἥμαρτον

Rom 2:12, Rom 2:12, Rom 3:23, Rom 5:12

second-aorist active indicative 3s

ἥμαρτεν

Jhn 9:2, Jhn 9:3, 1Co 7:28

aorist active subjunctive 3s

ἁμαρτήσῃ

Mat 18:15, Luk 17:4

present active imperative 2p

ἁμαρτάνετε

1Co 15:34, Eph 4:26

present active imperative 2s

ἁμάρτανε

Jhn 5:14, Jhn 8:11

present active participle nominative m p

ἁμαρτάνοντες

1Co 8:12, 1Pe 2:20

second-aorist active subjunctive 3s

ἁμάρτῃ

Luk 17:3, 1Jn 2:1

aorist active participle accusative m p

ἁμαρτήσαντας

Rom 5:14

aorist active participle dative m p

ἁμαρτήσασιν

Heb 3:17

aorist active participle genitive m p

ἁμαρτησάντων

2Pe 2:4

aorist active participle genitive m s

ἁμαρτήσαντος

Rom 5:16

aorist active subjunctive 1p

ἁμαρτήσωμεν

Rom 6:15

future active indicative 3s

ἁμαρτήσει

Mat 18:21

perfect active indicative 1p

ἡμαρτήκαμεν

1Jn 1:10

present active indicative 2p

ἁμαρτάνετε

1Co 8:12

present active infinitive

ἁμαρτάνειν

1Jn 3:9

present active participle accusative m p

ἁμαρτάνοντας

1Ti 5:20

present active participle accusative m s

ἁμαρτάνοντα

1Jn 5:16

present active participle dative m p

ἁμαρτάνουσιν

1Jn 5:16

present active participle genitive m p

ἁμαρτανόντων

Heb 10:26

present active participle nominative m s

ἁμαρτάνων

1Jn 3:6

second-aorist active indicative 2s

ἥμαρτες

1Co 7:28

second-aorist active subjunctive 2p

ἁμάρτητε

1Jn 2:1